LITTLE ROCK (AP) — An Arkansas prisoner who was condemned to die for the 1997 rape and murder of a mall security guard won a new hearing Thursday.

The state Supreme Court ordered a new hearing for Andrew Engram because it said a lower court erred in dismissing his petition for post-conviction relief.

“Under the facts and circumstances of this case, and considering the finality of punishment at issue, we hold that the circuit court erred in summarily dismissing Engram’s ... petition in the absence of a hearing and specific written findings on the issue of whether there exists good cause for the belated filing of the petition,” Associate Justice Donald Corbin wrote in the court’s opinion.

A spokesman said the attorney general’s office respects the court’s decision. One of Engram’s lawyers, Julie Vandiver, declined to comment.

During oral arguments on Oct. 10, Vandiver argued that one of Engram’s other attorneys “did a dismally poor job” and missed a deadline to file a petition that could have allowed them to argue that Engram’s trial lawyer wasn’t effective.

“This court has repeatedly held that in death cases, a prisoner is entitled to one full and fair round of post-conviction” review, Vandiver said during arguments. “Mr. Engram was denied access to this important procedural safeguard.”

But an attorney for the state said during arguments that the Arkansas Supreme Court should stick with a ruling from 2004, when the divided court rejected Engram’s plea to reopen his case.

“Nine years ago, this court decided that (Engram) has no avenue for post-conviction relief in state court,” assistant attorney general Rachel Kemp said. “That is still the case today, and ... the court should stand by that decision.”

A Pulaski County jury convicted Engram in 1999, and he was sentenced to death in the June 1997 rape and murder of Laurie White.

White was attacked at night while working outside McCain Mall. Her body was found hanging in the Sears merchandise tent that she was guarding outside the mall, dead from strangulation and blunt trauma to her neck.

The 26-year-old was unarmed and without a telephone, a radio, a backup guard or access to the store.

It’s not clear when Engram’s new hearing will take place, so for now, the 59-year-old remains on death row.

There aren’t any executions scheduled for Engram or the more than 35 death row inmates in Arkansas. Gov. Mike Beebe said earlier this year he doesn’t have any plans to change that.

Nine death row inmates are challenging the constitutionality of Arkansas’ new lethal injection law, and the Department of Correction has said it plans to rewrite its lethal injection procedure to include a different drug or drugs.